Gardeners' Notes:

This plant is an annual for me in zone 6b-7 in central virginia. I live out in the rural area and it gets colder than z 7. I love this plant. From a stick almost in the spring to a 6' circle in fall it is a standout. I have trouble finding it in the spring as box stores call it a sage and get it with their herbs! I get the purple and white ones but just recently saw the solid purple. Nice but not as yummy as the purple and white.

I notice everyone says alkaline soil but mine is quite acid, some areas 5.0. I use a lot of compost which is beginning, after 5 years of this new garden, to turn more neutral but no where near alkaline.

I haven't noticed seeds on the plant but will look for them next year. But the best $3.50 plant I buy

Planted a handful of these in an area of our property that gets intense summertime sun and heat, with only overspray from lawn sprinklers to give relief from the drought conditions. I didn't pay too much attention until, toward the end of the season when everything else was starting to look rather tired and spent, this plant absolutely EXPLODED with intense purple blooms all over. And it just won't stop! It's Thanksgiving week and they look as fresh as they did months ago, like they're frozen in time. I'm waiting for them to stop blooming so I can cut them back... but it hasn't happened yet. Amazing! I only wish I had planted more of them in other parts of our yard.

When I was growing up, my Mom put a berm in the backyard, & among the plants she covered it with, was one of these. It was shaded in the morning by a Pomegranate tree, but it grew & flowered wonderfully. Mom always pruned it in what I thought an unusual way: When the main flower spike on the end of a stem was done flowering, she removed the ENTIRE stem all the way back to the main stem. When this was done regularly & consistently, a new stem would quickly grow & start flowering, & the ones cut off were even more quickly replaced by others that were just waiting their turns! I later tried allowing all the flowers on each stem their turn to develop, thinking they might all become large spikes like the main ones on the stem ends . . . but they ever did, and the plant quickly became rangy ... read more& unpleasant to behold (by comparison). I recently asked a plant-grower in my area if he still carried this plant, but he had discontinued it because everyone had complained that it was coming up from seed like crazy, all over their gardens . . . IF they had pruned it like my mother always did, that could never have happened, and, their plants would have looked 100% more beautiful, too! . . . . . . . . . NOTE: Mom's sage was on a dirt berm, but not sheltered from winter rains, and it did GREAT!

This is my absolute favorite salvia. Fuzzy flowers and leafs, and the pests leave it alone! I've had horrible mealy bug infestations in my garden on all my other salvias, but they don't touch this one. The hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, and sphynx moths love it! It's been in bloom since spring and is still looking gorgeous in late November.

I've thise Salvia for several years now, its growth habit seems a bit of restraint. It's in full bloom this time of year. Although, classified as 7b. Sometimes, due to microclimate influences; many zone 8's plants proven to be adaptive here where I'm.

Last year for the first time growing it (the purple/white one and the all purple one). I had plants of the all purple one growing in the ground and in a pot. I had the purple/white one growing in a pot.

Love them both! Furry and you 'just want to touch them' each time you walk past them.

Seemed to me that the ones I had in the ground bloomed sooner than the ones I had in large 20" plastic containers on the patio (all of them were in full sun).

Blooms late in the season.

10/25/07:

The all purple variety is a big favorite of my husband! In 2006, I had two of the all purple Salvias growing in the ground next to the driveway and he really loved seeing them every day they were in bloom. I found a different spot, b... read moreut close enough to the driveway this year (annuals here in zone 6), pinched it back every so often and it's happier now than the ones in 2006.

This is a VERY hardy plant. After a year, it will spread by root. I had to dig it up and move it earlier in the spring, so I cut it way back. I was so scared I had lost it. It is now blooming beautifully! I even shared the new shoots with my mom.

I love this plant. It is so interesting. It blooms my favorite color too. I have two of these...one if blooming and the other is not blooming at all. They are planted in the same area so they get the same sun/water/etc. Any suggestions out there how I can get the other one to bloom? I live in Austin, TX. These are new plants I got a few weeks ago from Red Barn Nursery. Thanks.

This is a very tough, big ever-blooming salvia. In frost-free zones it is important to cut it back regularly, as it will continue to expand until it overruns all its neighbors. I have actually seen it start to break apart granite boulders. Tends to have a rather ungainly, somewhat wild appearance if allowed to grow without occasional pruning.

A really good landscape plant, likes an alkaline un- improved soil to slightly dry, plant can run by suckering along bottom edge so cut these out for new plants. Plant on 4-6 foot centers as they can eaisily be 3-5' round and tall. Cut back hard in fall to 1' in warmer (no frost) climates and it comes back like a true herb. Have seen hummingbirds feeding on this and have yet to see a major pest.
Have had extremely good luck on drip irrigation with emmiters 6" from base.